GUIDE: Where to find the best dishes for a traditional Noche Buena

With heavy Spanish influences, some Noche Buena staples have European roots, such as the Christmas ham and queso de bola. Other traditional dishes are more Filipino, including kakanin and sweet spaghetti. 

Here, PhilSTAR L!fe has put together a traditional Noche Buena menu, from the main course to dessert, with suggestions on where to get each item. 

Ham

A Noche Buena staple, a Christmas ham is traditionally served with a sweet pineapple glaze. It is usually sliced thinly, then enjoyed with pan de sal and queso de bola. In the days after Christmas, leftover ham is great in a sandwich, with a thin layer of mayonnaise, a slice of cheese, and maybe some cucumber slices. 

Try one of these: 

• Gastronomo. You'll want their Premium Smoked Ham, which is pure, flavor-packed meat. Find it here for P1,100. 

• Adelina's. Each ball of ham from this 70-year-old brand comes with Adelina's special sauce, which you pour over the ham once it's time to eat. Find it here. 
• Chino's Deli. Get Chino's Whole Muscle Ham. It's naturally wood-smoked using traditional Northern Mindanao curing techniques. Receive yours with free pineapple glaze. Find it here. 
• Pampanga's Best. This brand has several kinds of affordable ham available in supermarkets, including Ham Pinoy and Piña Ham. If you're looking for more premium hams of the brand that are also available online, find them here. 
• CDO. Their Holiday Ham sits in supermarket freezers, is usually underrated, and consistently delivers value for money. But it at the supermarket or order it online here. 
• Wildflour. Either order it online or buy one at a Wildflour near you; the result will be the same, which is smoky, tasty goodness. To save the hassle of traffic, find it online here. 

Quezo de Bola

This wax-covered ball of sharp cheese is the Christmas ham's partner in crime. The most convenient place to get one is in major supermarkets, which normally carry several brands of queso de bola: 

• Danes queso de bola is loved by kids because the taste is not as sharp as other cheeses. It's creamy, softer rather than crumbly, and mildly salty. 
• Marca Piña queso de bola is on the other end of the spectrum. Its taste is a mixture of nutty, salty, and sweet; the complex flavors of aged cheese. This queso de bola is crumbly and firm to the touch. 
• Magnolia queso de bola falls somewhere in between, with a mild cheddar taste and a texture that goes great with crackers after the ham has run out. 

Several delis offer more premium cheese:

• Säntis Delicatessen. With an extensive inventory of imported cheese products, Säntis is often the go-to store of more discerning cheese aficionados. For your Noche Buena purposes, though, try Edam cheese from among their offerings of Dutch dairy products. It is available here. 
• One World Deli. While the deli doesn't carry queso de bola, it does have several choices of world-class cheese, including a disc of sharp cheddar, which may pass for a cousin of queso de bola. 
• Poco Deli. Queso de bola is essentially a kind of Gouda cheese, since both have a sweet, slightly nutty taste with a semi-hard texture. Poco Deli offers Gouda, along with several other cheeses you can enjoy with your Christmas ham, as well. 

Macaroni salad

The first of the two perennial salads on the Noche Buena table, macaroni salad provides just the right amount of nostalgia on Christmas Eve. A few restaurants make it just like how Lola did:

• Conti's. Their Pineapple Macaroni Salad is just the right mix of savory and sweet. The pineapple chunks add a lovely crunch. Order it here.
• Casa Ilustre. Ham, bacon bits, shredded chicken, pineapple, plus a secret mayo dressing. What's not to like? Order it here. 

Filipino-style spaghetti

It has to be a little sweet, with hotdogs, and garnished with grated cheddar cheese. Such are the specific demands of Filipino tastebuds from an Italian dish. The traditional Noche Buena table is incomplete without it. Here are the restaurants that have mastered Pinoy-style spaghetti:

• Amber. Their Spaghetti with Meat Sauce immediately grabs the attention because of the hotdog slices on top. Order a platter here. 
• Buddy's. Switching hotdogs with bacon, Buddy's still makes its famous Pinoy-style spaghetti a crowd favorite because it's gotten the sweet part right. Find it here. 
• Jollibee. A family platter (or two) of Jollibee spaghetti can complete any Filipino spread. Price-wise, it's also a winner. Order your Jolly Spaghetti Family Pan here. 

Bibingka and Puto bumbong

These glutinous rice delicacies are usually enjoyed in tandem. One of the enduring symbols of Christmas in the Philippines is the scene outside Catholic churches during the nine-day Simbang Gabi tradition, when carts preparing hot, chewy bibingka and the purple-dyed puto bumbong pop up. 

If you can't grab these kakanin there, find them in these other places: 

• Café Via Mare. Complement their bibingka's Laguna cheese and salted duck egg toppings with an additional queso de bola garnish. Similarly, make their puto bumbong even tastier by ordering added grated cheddar cheese or quezo de bola on the side. Enjoy these in the restaurant or order them to-go in vacuum packs. Find them here. 
• Victorino's. An expert at serving Christmas nostalgia, Victorino's understands how to prepare its bibingka and puto bumbong pairing according to discerning Filipino tastebuds. Both are richly fragrant with generous toppings. Find them here. 
• Ferino's Bibingka Original. Because bibingka is Ferino's specialty, their version of this popular kakanincomes with two choices of toppings: kesong puti and salted egg, or cheddar cheese. Their puto bumbong is equally fitting for Noche Buena, and, like the bibingka, is offered fresh and in frozen vacuum packs. Find them here. 
• Merienda by Pan de Manila. Yes, the famous panaderya has a restaurant that offers Filipino comfort food. Among them, the buttery Bibingka Espesyal and Puto Bumbong Espesyal. Order them in the restaurant or online. 

Leche Flan

Creamy custard topped with golden caramel, this dessert resembles the Italian panna cotta in texture. It is so good that a bite or two of it is frequently enjoyed even before the ham and queso de bola are sliced.

Several Filipino restaurants have mastered the texture and taste of the humble leche flan. 

• JT's Manukan. Owned by actor Joel Torre, JT's Manukan offers leche flan in both solo and family-sized servings. The custard is spot-on, just as the caramel on top is perfection. Order it in their many branches or online. 
• Little Quiapo. Always a go-to for Filipino food favorites, their leche flan is particularly popular for its firm texture, which celebrates the rich custard and the delicate balance and sweet and tart. Order it here. 
• Bacolod Chicken Inasal. If there's anyone who can make a fitting leche flan for your Noche Buena, it will be a restaurant whose owners hail from the sugar capital of the Philippines. Order their bestselling leche flan here.

Fruit salad

The Filipino fruit salad is a curious dish: every version generally has the same ingredients, yet each one tastes slightly different—but still delicious—depending on the kitchen it's prepared in. Filipinos like to put their own twist on the eternal Christmas fruit salad. 

So here, instead, is a list of ingredients that you can easily put together to prepare Fruit Salad ala You:

• Fruit cocktail; some prefer the tropical variant, which has papaya and pineapple. 
• Kaong
• Nata de coco
• Fresh buko strips
• All-purpose cream
• Condensed milk

Some add extras:

• Chopped walnuts
• Cheese cubes
• Sago't gulaman
• Diced mangoes or bananas
• Mini marshmallows
• Ube halaya
• Cream cheese for a tangy twist

Remember to completely drain the fruit cocktail, kaong, and nata de coco before adding them to the mix.